Variable tension violin bow



June 3, 1947. w. K. KRAUSE VARIABLE TENSION VIOLIN BOW Filed Jan. 10, 1945 'nnmmll mum mum! mmmf "*HHHHIIIIH INVENTOR. fimu fitflmff.

Patented June 3, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE VARIABLE TENSION VIOLIN BOW William Karl Krause, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application January 10, 1945, Serial No. 572,185

Claims. 1

My invention relates to a musical instrument bow and has for its principal object, to provide a simple, practical and inexpensive bow, constructed so that while same is in use, it may be easily and conveniently manipulated by thumb and finger pressure, so as to impart variable tension to the friction producing element of the bow, generally horse tail hairs, thus enabling a single string to be engaged to produce a single note, or a plurality of strings engaged to play cords of two, three or more notes.

A further object of my invention is to provide a bow of the character referred to that may be used to advantage in the playing of violins, violincellos, base viols, or any stringed instruments wherein the strings are disposed substantially parallel and in a transverse arc, which arrangement prevails in violin-like instruments.

In my improved bow, the variable tension imparted to the friction producing element is brought about by the squeezing of an elliptical resilient member so as to elongate same and thereby straighten and tighten said friction producing element, which is normally loose.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of my improved bow.

Fig. 2 is a plan View.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the bow.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail section taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a detail elevation of a modification.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of my invention, l0 designates narrow strips of thin, resilient material, such as wood, plastics, or metal, said strips being bowed away from each other and their ends suitably connected to the upper ends of depending pins or posts ll of small diameter, thus forming, in effect, an elongated ellipse with pointed ends.

The friction producing element of the bow consists of a bunch l2 of horse tail hairs arranged to form a flat layer, which may be from a half to three quarters of an inch or more in width and the ends thereof being suitably clamped to the lower ends of the pins or posts I l, preferably, by clamping plates [3 and screws M, which latter pass through said plates and are seated in the lower ends of said pins or posts ll. (See Fig. 4.)

Normally, the friction producing element I2 hangs slack from the lower ends of the pins and under such conditions said element may be engaged with and drawn across several strings and thus produce a chord of two, three, four, five or more notes, providing of course, that the strings of the instrument occupy a transversely arched plane, as in violin-like instruments. (See Fig. 3.)

Obviously, during such playing, the strings must be fingered in the usual manner. While playing, the lengthwise angular position of the bow may be shifted so as to play chords of from two to five or more notes and as said bow is squeezed by the thumb and finger pressure as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2, the length of the bow is increased, thereby drawing the element I2 taut, so as to frictionally engage and play only one or two strings after the manner of the conventional violin.

In addition to its use in playing the violin types of musical instruments, my improved bow may be used for playing zither-like instruments having a wide finger board and a considerable number of parallel strings disposed in a transverse arc.

The improved bow may be conveniently used for playing all violin like instruments or multistringed instruments supported on a stand or table and the tension of the friction producing element may be instantly changed by merely exerting or relieving finger or thumb pressure on the outwardly bowed members forming the main body of the bow, so as to play single string notes or chords of two, three or more notes.

In Fig. 5, I have shown a hinge joint between the ends of resilient members I0, which joint is formed by securing the ends of one of said members to the pins I I, preferably by wire loops such as l5 and the ends of the other member [0 being connected tothe pins by loops such as [6 which rotate on said pins when members [0 are pressed toward each other.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a variable tension violin bow which is simple in construction, inexpensive of manufacture and very effective in performing the functions for which it is intended.

It will be understood that minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of my improved variable tension bow may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A variable tension violin bow comprising a narrow elongated elliptical resilient frame capable of elongation as a result of inward pressure on its sides, and a normally slack friction producing element suspended from the ends of said frame.

2. A variable tension violin bow comprising a pair of outwardly bowed resilient members connected at their ends, pins depending from the connected ends of said members and a normally 3 slack flexible friction producing element having its ends secured to the lower portions of said pins.

3. A variable tension violin bow comprising a substantialiyoval shaped resilient skeleton frame capable of elongation as a result of inward pressure on its sides and a normally slack flexible friction producing member connected to the ends of said frame.

4. A variable tension violin bow comprising a pair of outwardly bowed resilient members connected at their ends and normally yieldingly resisting inward pressure, pins depending from the connected ends of said bowed members and a normally slack friction producing element suspended from said pins.

5. A variable tension violin bow comprising a pair of outwardly bowed resilient members, hinge 4 connections between the ends of said members and a normally slack flexible friction producing member suspended from the ends of said resilient members.

WILLIAM KARL KRAUSE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,714,490 Berkowski May 28, 1929 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 364,770 Germany Dec. 1, 1922 

